UCLA Chemical Engineer Joseph Peterson Receives NSF CAREER Award for Characterizing Polymer Deformation

Joseph Peterson, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award to support his research on how complex fluids respond to large, repeated deformations. 

Complex fluids are liquids that also exhibit solid-like properties, with applications ranging from everyday consumer goods — such as shampoo, mayonnaise and yogurt — to advanced materials in medicine, manufacturing and defense. For better characterization and quality control, scientists often subject complex fluids to repeated cycles of stretching and compression. However, evaluating the results of these tests can be unexpectedly challenging. The five-year, $600,000 award from the NSF will support Peterson’s work to develop a more complete method of interpreting such push-and-pull tests of complex fluids.  

Peterson, who joined the UCLA Samueli faculty in 2022, leads the Complex Fluid Processing Group, which aims to understand, predict and ultimately control the flow behaviors of industrially relevant materials.

The NSF CAREER award is the federal agency’s highest honor for faculty in the early stages of their academic careers. Other recent UCLA Samueli recipients include Violet Peng, Aditya Grover and Bolei Zhou — all in computer science; Carlos Morales-Guio in chemical and biomolecular engineering; and Nader Sehatbakhsh in electrical and computer engineering.